Computer technologies continue to advance at a rapid pace. Indeed, computers are used in almost all aspects of business, industry and academic endeavors. Improvements in computer technologies have been a force for bringing about great increases in business and industrial productivity. More and more homes are using computers as well.
There are many different kinds of computers in use today. The term “computer system” will be used herein to refer generally to any device (or combination of devices) that is capable of processing information to produce a desired result. Some examples of computer systems include personal computers, hand-held computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), servers, mainframes, supercomputers, minicomputers, workstations, microcomputers, microcontrollers, and the like.
Application software is designed to use the capabilities of a computer system to help a user to perform various tasks. A piece of application software is sometimes referred to simply as an application. Examples of applications that are commonly used include word processors, Web browsers, database tools, graphics programs, and the like. Applications may be used to create electronic documents. Some examples of electronic documents include word-processed materials (e.g., letters, reports, etc.), spreadsheets, graphics, etc. Electronic documents are sometimes referred to simply as documents.
Sometimes it is desirable to produce a hard copy of an electronic document. A printing device may be used to perform this task. The term “printing device,” as used herein, refers to any device that produces human-readable text and/or graphics on an output medium, such as paper. Some examples of printing devices include computer printers, fax machines, scanners, multi-function peripherals, copiers, and so forth. To facilitate printing of an electronic document, a computer system may be connected to (i.e., placed in electronic communication with) a printing device.
One type of document that may be printed is a poster document. As used herein, the term “poster document” refers to any document wherein the dimensions of a logical page of the document are greater than the dimensions of the physical pages on which the document is printed. Thus, a single, logical page of a poster document occupies more than one physical page when it is printed. The multiple physical pages may be pieced together to produce a printed representation of the logical page.
A computer system may include one or more printing device drivers. The driver for a particular printing device facilitates communication between applications on the computer system and the printing device. More specifically, the driver allows applications to be able to print documents on the printing device without knowing specific details about the printing device's hardware and internal language.
Benefits may be realized by improved systems and methods related to the use of computer systems to print documents on printing devices. More specifically, benefits may be realized by systems and methods for efficiently printing poster documents.